I actually watched this race; the driver's go a mere 100 miles (I think about 35 laps). It began at about 12:05 and finished about five minutes ago (12:55). Pretty minor league stuff, done before an audience of about 60,000.
No official story up yet. You read it here first.
Update: Actually looks like Bourque got his first top ten finish. This official result was quite different from what I was seeing on the tv at about one pm. The adjustment must have been made post-race due to caution flags etc.
23 comments:
60,000 visitors! That's high. In a Quebec riding, enough for a victory i'd say.
Good on ya for watching the race.
Some race fans have their favorites and some have their not favorites who they like to see fail, but they are all fans.
I sense a new race car fan in the making here.
and an after thought.......
If the liberals sponsored a car, they could bounce and bang off the conservative sponsored car and trade paint all day long.
Let the racing begin....
Cascar,
I never actually said I didn't like racing. Not that I'm a big fan, but I ocasionally watch the dragsters and funny cars. Race starts. Six seconds pass. Its over.
I've often thought that sponsering a Cascar was a good move by the conservatives. It has left-leaning parties falling over themselves to show how out of touch they are with "common Canadians" (although Dion - smartly - kept his comments humourous and to a minimum).
In particular, it's a serious mistake to assume that auto racing only appeals to men. If you look at the sponsors of Nascar, many of them are consumer-product companies who principally target women in their advertising (e.g., Unilever):
http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/business/10/24/unilever_marketing/index.html
Are these companies stupid and wasting their money? Not bloody likely.
Oh, rabbit, we've heard that all before. If you think confusing leisure activities with governance issues is sophisticated politics, then you get the government you deserve.
Besides, I know what the Conservative elite really thinks about Cascar fans, Canadian Tire shoppers and Tim Horton's lovers. They think they're gullible fools. I know; I've heard them say it.
Ti-Guy:
I don't confuse leisure activities with goverance issues - those are your words. I just say it's clever marketing, with the added bonus of inviting their opponents to put their feet in their mouth. In other words, good tactics even if has little to do with governing.
And I find it hard to believe that you share a lot of conversations with the "conservative elite". Can you cite a source where they call doughnut-gulping Canadians "gullible fools" - you are hardly, after all, an unbiased source of information on such matters.
Rabbit,
Hit the submit button a few extra times, did we?
Shit, how did that happen?
BCL, Could you clean that up for me?
I just say it's clever marketing, with the added bonus of inviting their opponents to put their feet in their mouth.
Right...it's marketing. It treats the electorate like fools and gullible children and...consumers instead of citizens. If you're impressed with that, then you're simply credulous. And as far a putting feet in mouths, you couldn't say anything about this without a rightwinger accusing you of being a latte-sipping liberal elitist. It's obvious the CPC thinks a class war is just what this country needs. They borrowed that from the Republicans.
Can you cite a source where they call doughnut-gulping Canadians "gullible fools" - you are hardly, after all, an unbiased source of information on such matters.
I don't mean the political elite, I mean the real conservative elite; the ones who take expensive vacations and play golf; they wouldn't be caught dead shopping at Canadian Tire. And no, I won't be naming those people here for you as a lot of them are relatives of mine...
Ti-Guy:
All parties use marketing tactics. A sign on a lawn isn't much different than a sign on a car - it just costs a little less. Now if you want to argue that lawn signs treat voters like gullible children, have at
'er, but make sure you take it up with all parties.
But how this transmorgifies into a class war beats me. It was, after all, the NDP that used to try to appeal to and mobilize the working classes. So when the conservatives try to do the same, now it's class warfare? Nonsense - it's just going to where the voters are.
Darn,, Checks to see if the sky is still up there, Ti-guy has conservative relative and admits it. LMAO, Just funning with ya.
Ti Guy can we call you Ben Mulroney.LOL
Actually, I've always suspected that Ti-Guy was a closet conservative himself.
His attacks on conservatives are a form of self denial, but once he's come to accept his inner tory I wouldn't be surprized to see him in the con-pride parade, with a three-piece suite, a brief case, and a handgun.
But how this transmorgifies into a class war beats me.
A class or culture war, in any case. You seem to forget the added hype to this straightforward marketing ploy: The Conservatives stated that Cascar fans were their kind of people because they represent hard-working families who pay their taxes and play by the rules...as if this moral dimension is lacking among people who don't care for Cascar (I don't...I hate all spectator sports, especially those dependent on high levels of advertising and fan consumption).
All of this stuff just divides the electorate along lines that are irrelevant to governance.
The unstated message is "non-Conservatives: anti-family, lazy, tax-avoiding, effete, immoral, etc. etc." In other words, the neocon "big lie."
Watching the race . . . . I am sure envious of the neat race track in Montreal. Back in the 90's on the left coast our track became a subdivision.
But I have one question . . . what position did the LPC car finish in?
I know . . . it made a left turn on the way o the track and got lost!!!
Does complementing soldiers for their bravery insinuate that non-soldiers are cowards? Does complementing scholars for their cleverness suggest that every else is stupid?
Best not complement any part of society, I guess, lest everyone else takes it as an insult. Complements are just too divisive.
Silly me! From the headline I thought you had a webcam placed in Laureen Teskey's bedroom.
Does complementing soldiers for their bravery insinuate that non-soldiers are cowards?
You're glossing over contextual information here. The Conservatives elicited the support of Republican operatives (such as Frank Luntz) to frame support for the CPC as having a "moral dimension" that supporters of other parties wouldn't have. That's the context in which I interpret (and will continue to interpret, since I've been observing the Reform-a-Tories and the Republicans for decades now) the CPC's messaging here and only the credulous...or the disingenuous (eh, rabbit?)...would claim otherwise.
Ti-Guy:
Correct. Everyone that disagrees with you is being disengenous. How could it be otherwise?
Well, I don't know you...you could be a Conservative operative...
My basic disagreement in politics usually has to do with people adopting the perspective of the politician or the political party. Sure, it makes sense for the Conservatives to claim the Cascar fans as their own and cultivate a class/culture war that divides and conquers. But as a citizen, it makes no sense; it's divisive and, and as I said, has little relevance to policy. What, for example, is the CPC going to do for hard working families? Child-care? Tax credits? Improved suburban life for children?
Being a citizen in participatory democracy means that you expect things from the people you elect to govern...you're not there to sit back passively and admire their political savvy, their brilliant marketing strategies, and how clever their consultants are. At least, progressives aren't. Wingnuts think that's all there is to politics.
Post a Comment